


In Control

by RealCabbageMan



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Because in this fic there's no deus ex machina, Bending (Avatar), F/M, Holy crap it's fun to write about Sozin's Comet bending, Kataang worrying about each other, Missing Scene, Not Canon Compliant, One Shot, Reunions, Sozin's Comet, big fights
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-06
Updated: 2021-01-06
Packaged: 2021-03-16 19:02:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,460
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28586904
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RealCabbageMan/pseuds/RealCabbageMan
Summary: Over the edge of a dark horizon broke the faintest sliver of pink light.  Behind the distant mountains of the sleeping Earth Kingdom, an immense fireball was already transforming the morning sky from a smooth black to a volatile and murderous red.Sozin’s Comet peeled back the clouds, separating water from air and dispersing them violently.  The masters of air and of water, as though they were aware of this separation, looked skyward and saw the comet tear away every moment of the last eight months, leaving them alone in the present.  Without each other.--In which Aang and Katara help each other through the fights of their lives and Aang finds his own path as the Avatar.  Also, Kataang reunion!
Relationships: Aang/Katara (Avatar)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 19





	In Control

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is written for Livi for Kataang Secret Santa 2020. Hope you enjoy it!

Over the edge of a dark horizon broke the faintest sliver of pink light. Behind the distant mountains of the sleeping Earth Kingdom, an immense fireball was already transforming the morning sky from a smooth black to a volatile and murderous red.

Sozin’s Comet peeled back the clouds, separating water from air and dispersing them violently. The masters of air and of water, as though they were aware of this separation, looked skyward and saw the comet tear away every moment of the last eight months, leaving them alone in the present. Without each other.

\----

Aang sat cross-legged on a column of rock in Wulong Forest. In a lotus position, his eyes closed, he reached out for the world around him with his senses. Through the vibrations of the rock he began to count the pillars around him, starting over each time he lost count. He had passed the six hundred mark countless times by the time he finally allowed his mind to wander away from the task.

_ Katara grinned at Aang as he struggled back to his feet, drenched. She was in an unusually feisty mood, and had just soundly doused the Avatar as they sparred in a small pool. Focusing intently, Aang caught the water dripping down his back and held it there, forming a small ball out of his master’s sight. The humid air around them swirled and writhed, moving unnaturally as Katara bent most of the pool into a whirling circle and hurled it at her pupil. With the agility natural to his people, Aang leapt backwards and away from her attack, hurling his small sphere as he went. Katara was unfazed by his sneaky move, knocking it away from her with an unnecessary flourish. Drawing on all the Avatar power he could muster, Aang hurled every bit of water he could reach. Suddenly, he felt his ankle gripped by a cool tendril, impossibly strong. Thrown off-balance, Aang flailed as the water around him was wrenched from his control and froze into an icy cage. Defeated, the Avatar raised his arms in surrender. _

_ “Would you teach me that?” Aang asked in a tone of reverence as the cocoon melted from around him. _

_ “The water claw? The only reason I haven’t taught you that yet is because I wanted to beat you with it first.” _

_ Katara smirked. Aang grinned in response. _

_ “Just because I know the move doesn’t mean I’ll be able to beat you, Sifu Katara,” he retorted merrily. “But I’m excited to learn anyway! It looks like a good move for capturing a prisoner.” _

_ “I’ve never captured anyone with it, but I think so,” she mused, widening her feet into a stronger stance and angling her arms towards Aang. “Here’s how you do it…” _

\----

_ Aang shook his head violently, trying to clear his vision. The first figure he could make out in the eerie light of the Crystal Catacombs was Azula, who was stumbling backwards, clearly off-balance. Next he saw Zuko, between himself and the princess, running in her direction. His heart leapt into his mouth when he caught sight of Katara, but he needn’t have been concerned. She bent a huge stream of water directly into Azula’s chest, throwing her backwards onto the stone floor, littered with bits of green crystal. As the firebending prodigy staggered to her feet again, Katara slid into that familiar wide stance. Aang knew what would happen before anyone else, and he couldn’t keep from grinning. As Azula attempted in vain to firebend, first her wrist and then her ankle were ensnared by writhing coils of water. Katara made it look so easy… _

\----

_ A quick glance around confirmed that there were no exits in sight. The pointed hats of the Dai Li swarmed around them like ants. Katara, fifty feet away in the dusty cavern, wrenched the water around her into the octopus form. Aang forced his eyes away from her to focus on Azula and Zuko, who confronted him together. If only there were some way he could distract them so Katara could escape… but that would be futile. She wouldn’t leave him. Even worse, he thought with a start, she might create a diversion herself! As the Avatar, Aang had to stay alive… _

_ Whispering an apology to the girl he loved, forcing his tears not to fall, Aang stabbed his fists into the rocky ground, bending a small tent of green crystal. Summoning every bit of resolve in his small body, the young airbender gathered all the emotion he’d ever felt for the girl who had helped him from the iceberg so many months ago. He forced it away from himself, forced his mental anguish to subside, forced himself to accept the raw power offered to him by the universe, forced himself to become a new version of Avatar Aang, a version who would save Katara because she was a human in need, not because she was his entire world…  _

\----

A tear fell onto Aang’s cheek as he remembered. He’d consciously forced his love for Katara from his mind and heart. It almost made him glad Azula had shot him, had interrupted a process that might have been irreversible. He didn’t have the Avatar State anymore, but he had his love. It filled Aang with a desperate resolve that he’d never had while in the Avatar State alone. He was ready for the Firelord.

\----

Katara looked back over her shoulder at the searing brightness of the coming comet. She glanced at Zuko. His eyes were closed, but he was clearly awake. He inhaled, and a delightful, comforting warmth dispelled the biting chill of the wind atop Appa’s saddle. As he exhaled, the cold returned. The Fire Prince sat up straight, drawing in a massive breath, and sweat instantly beaded across Katara’s face from the intense heat which enveloped them. Appa roared his discomfort. Zuko spoke.

“I’m not even trying.”

He opened his eyes and returned Katara’s gaze.

“I’m just breathing. If I bend I think it would kill you. And the bison.”

He turned to gaze at the distant Earth Kingdom shoreline, where the comet was beginning to break into their field of view. Katara stared at its beauty and power, horrified and awed in the same moment. She turned away, slightly shaken, and closed her eyes to get the image out of her brain.

\----

_ She had frozen Aang again, but this time he didn’t surrender. He simply stood in the ice, immobile, gazing merrily back at his instructor. Katara sat down cross-legged in the babbling stream to wait. He would have to give in eventually. Sympathy welled up within her at first, but was thoroughly silenced by her competitive streak. Aang had beaten her one too many times recently, and she was going to win this one, no matter how. She glared at him challengingly. _

_ After half an hour, glaring had lost its novelty. She looked up from the fish she’d been watching and saw that Aang was still staring back at her contentedly. Frustrated, she dropped into a low and aggressive stance, bringing her arms together and shattering the icy ball around the Avatar. Without missing a beat, the younger boy instantly bent the river out from under Katara’s feet, knocking her sideways onto the wet sand. Katara had forgotten they were in the midst of a duel. _

_ Angry now, she rose into the air on a whirling tornado of liquid, but when she focused down on Aang, ready to finish the bout, his hands were raised. She lowered herself back to the ground, slightly perplexed. _

_ “I didn’t want us to really fight,” Aang explained hurriedly before Katara could even ask. “I like it when we spar, but I don’t want to end up in the Avatar State or bending other elements or anything like that.” _

_ Katara nodded, wishing that she’d held back a little bit. Remembering the cause of her ire, she asked Aang the question that had been on her mind. _

_ “How can you last so long in ice like that? I know you’re fine in cold weather, but I’m still a little surprised!” _

_ “It’s the same reason, actually. Breath controls heat. Airbenders have kept themselves warm by breathing for centuries! I’ve even heard that some firebenders can do it too.” _

_ “Do you think a waterbender could?” _

_ Aang looked pensive for a moment, then responded cheerily. _

_ “I don’t know, but if any waterbender can do it, you can!” _

_ Katara fought the silly grin that crept onto her face as Aang began to explain the breathing method… _

\----

_ Salty air whipped at the pair as they stood alone. The rest of the invasion force had already gone below decks in preparation for the next phase. _

_ “What if… what if I don’t come back?” _

_ Katara was taken aback. Aang hadn’t had any such doubts this morning! Had he simply been putting on a brave face for the troops? She responded hastily. _

_ “Aang, don’t say that! Of course you’ll…” _

_ And he kissed her. Katara’s thoughts stopped forming. The rest of the world, and the invasion, and the danger, and their imminent separation all vanished. It was only Katara and Aang standing there, existing in each other’s presence. _

_ Aang broke away. There was no doubt anywhere on his face. He snapped his glider open and took off in a mighty gust. Katara watched him soar toward the Caldera City, far away from her, to a place where they couldn’t watch each other’s backs. _

_ \---- _

A tear fell onto Katara’s cheek as she remembered. Aang had looked so strong, so self-assured, so ready to face Ozai. When he had kissed her, a whole different world had revealed itself. He was strong because she was strong too. He was self-assured because she had assured him. He was ready to face Ozai because if he wasn’t, it wouldn’t just be at the cost of his own life. It would cost the lives of Katara, Sokka, Toph, and everyone else in the invasion.

Aang had been doing it for her. Honestly, she’d been doing it for him too. And now, on the day of Sozin’s Comet, they were two hundred miles apart.

\----

Aang inhaled deeply, letting the salty air drifting in from the ocean fill his lungs. The smell of shellfish, of traveling, and of the girl he loved surrounded him. He couldn’t get enough of it. It centered him, pulled his mind into the moment, gave him intense focus. With each fresh breath, deeper every time, the air around him grew warmer. The soothing warmth rapidly became a searing heat, drying Aang’s tears and filling his chest with pure strength; raw, living fire. The young airbender had never been so focused in his life. He could feel the power filling every vein, every limb in his body. It was intoxicating. So similar to Katara’s presence, and yet so different. Aang inhaled again, and the scent of the sea subsided, remaining only as a distant longing in his mind. The raging heat surrounded him. He sat still for a few moments, bathed in its energy, before he felt a different heat, a steadier and more sinister heat, brush the back of his shaved head. Sozin’s Comet was breaking over the horizon behind him. Aang opened his eyes to see the glint of a golden airship nearing the Earth Kingdom shore. Ozai had arrived.

\----

Katara stood as close as she could to the courtyard, while still far away enough that Zuko wouldn’t see her and tell her to stand back. Azula was unpredictable, and wild, and far too dangerous to be left alone with Zuko. Katara had beaten her before, and wanted to be nearby in case she had to do it again. Today would be different, thanks to the raging comet that now dominated the distant orange sky, but the waterbender still needed to feel in control. So she stood as close as she could, on the balls of her feet in anticipation.

Azula and Zuko stared at each other for several long seconds, uttering some words Katara couldn’t make out. As Azula began moving, the air suddenly became frigid as she pulled energy into herself.

As soon as they started bending, Katara regretted standing so close. The world exploded into a raging furnace, hungry flames sucking any nearby oxygen into themselves. By the time Zuko and Azula broke away from their first encounter, Katara was gasping for breath, sweat dripping from the end of her nose. She stumbled back, away from the courtyard, trying to get to a safe distance. The next burst of flame was hotter than the last, and the waterbender felt all her sweat evaporate in an instant. Suddenly she felt dehydrated, color draining from her parched lips. She had wanted to watch the fight, but now all she could think about was finding a safe place, a place that didn’t feel like a deadly furnace. Bits of blue and orange fire exploded behind her, nipping at her ankles as she tripped on a loose cobblestone. Rolling to her feet, she raised her eyes to look at the blinding fury of the battle, and saw Azula racing around her brother in a circle, impossibly fast.  _ Please just land a blow, Zuko, anything,  _ Katara thought.  _ End this mad duel. _

As if in answer to her call, Zuko dropped down onto his back and twisted his hips violently, unseating Azula with an immense coil of raging flame. As Azula’s body skipped across the stones, flailing in protest, the waterbender dashed forward in elation. She hadn’t expected Zuko to end it this easily. He was the rightful Firelord, first by age, and now by fire. But before she made it to his side, Zuko was taunting his fallen foe.

“No lightning today! What’s the matter, afraid I’ll redirect it?”

An uncensored whine of rage distorted Azula’s voice as she retorted violently.

“Oh, I’ll show you lightning!”

Realizations rampaged through Katara’s head quicker than she could process them.  _ Zuko wants to fight more? Why is he taunting her? He’s already defeated her! But she won’t give in… he has to restrain her… he asked her to bend lightning… he’s going to kill her.  _ The shock at Zuko’s boldness, his audacity, his willingness to end his little sister, the raw shock of his resolve paralyzed Katara for a single second, a second in which Azula extended her hand and chose Katara, not Zuzu, as her victim.

It was over in a moment, Zuko twitching on the ground, Azula cackling from the steps of the palace, Katara reaching for him, forced to run by lightning bolts that shook the caldera to its core.

\----

Every time Ozai moved his arms Aang felt his Air Nomad robes clutch his skin, writhing with static electricity. Aang lept from one rock pillar to the next, evading the sizzling lightning that ruptured the very air where he stood moments before. He tried everything, airbending, earthbending, waterbending, even firebending, but the Firelord’s blasts were inexorable. Only one option remained to him: redirection. As he landed on yet another smooth column, this time Aang turned to face the man of his nightmares. Lightning, confusingly bright, sprang out at Aang, scissoring through the air. The red scar on the Avatar’s back tingled in protest as the boy let the deadly bolt reach him. Breathing deeply, he closed his eyes.  _ Just like waterbending _ , he thought.

_ “For a basic deflection, just let your body carry the energy and push it back out. Don’t add anything to it, just take and give back.” _

Katara’s words centered him. He pulled his arms to his chest, controlling the lightning bolt as though it were one of Katara’s water tendrils in a simple spar. He ignored the pain, letting it flow down the creek. Opening his stance and his eyes, he found Ozai standing still, watching him in shock. Aang moved his hand into position.

He did not kill Ozai. He was never going to kill Ozai. He fired the lightning away into the sky, as he had always known he would do if he had the chance, and he let the Firelord take over the battle.

Crouching in a small ball of tightly connected rocks, Aang could hear every taunt from Zuko’s father, every insult against his people, every accusation of cowardice that hurt more than the flames that seeped through cracks in the rock.

“You're weak! Just like the rest of your people.”

A tear, squeezed from Aang’s eye by both sorrow and exertion, evaporated before it could reach his chin.

“They did not deserve to exist in this world, in my world!”

He could feel the rocks beginning to give way under the pressure of the inferno outside. He desperately tried to center himself.

“Prepare to join them. Prepare to die!”

Aang, weary from battle, knew he was indeed going to die, even before Ozai unleashed his rage once again on the thin earthen shell. The knowledge brought him peace, closure. When the rocks gave way, it would be instantaneous. No more pain, no more sorrow, no more fire to chase Aang down in his dreams and in his waking hours. The Avatar thought of Katara. He knew that he wanted his final moments to be filled with thoughts of her kind face, her caring voice, her cool intensity, and her elegant bending. At last, Aang felt at peace.

Suddenly voices filled his head.

_ “You must learn to let go” _ , Guru Pathik urged.

_ “Being the Avatar doesn’t hurt your chances with the ladies, either” _ , Avatar Roku chuckled.

_ “Many great and wise Air Nomads have detached themselves and achieved spiritual enlightenment, but the Avatar can never do it, because your sole duty is to the world” _ , Avatar Yangchen reminded him.

_ “Perfection and power are overrated. I think you were very wise to choose happiness and love” _ , Iroh interjected.

_ “No, Aang! By choosing attachment you have locked the chakra!” _ Pathik shouted.

_ “You must actively shape your own destiny, and the destiny of the world” _ , warned Avatar Kuruk.

The cacophony of voices pounded inside his head, ordering him to let go, to hold on, to be active, to let go, to be passive, to follow duty, to let go.

“NO!”

Aang roared his disagreement, silencing the other voices.

“No! I won’t let go. I won’t let go of Katara, I won’t let go of the world, and I won’t let go of Ozai. I won’t let GO!”

The sphere of rocks exploded in a gust of tightly packed air. Ozai was thrown backwards, flailing uncontrollably. He lifted his eyes to see Avatar Aang hovering before him, eyes brightly aglow. Water gravitated to him from every nearby stream; rocks wrenched themselves out of their pillars to whirl around him, and fire spewed from his limbs as he rose from the ground in a ball of wind.

\----

Katara ducked behind a pillar. Azula’s blue fire, out of control, enveloped the courtyard, punctuated by frequent lightning. Katara bent all the water she could find into a tight stream, forcing it onto the roof where she’d last seen Azula, but the Fire Nation princess was gone. Suddenly she appeared behind the waterbender, flying on small plumes of flame. It took all of Katara’s resolve and speed to get out of the way of each raging blast; she could feel the water she bent evaporating and melting around her. A wave of frigid air nearly threw Katara from her feet, and she knew what was coming. With all her might she hurled herself out of the courtyard as the entire area went up in flames. Pain shot through her knee, which had struck a metal grating as she fell. Grimacing, she looked at the grate and saw water beneath it. As she climbed to her feet, the agony in her leg made her realize she had to end the fight. This water would have to do.

Azula, as though aware her enemy were hurt, ambled into the corridor where Katara waited.

“There you are, filthy peasant”, Azula snarled.

Katara threw several water whips at her opponent, who somersaulted forward into her lightningbending stance. There was no time for precision, there was just enough time to grab the water all around them and pray to the spirits that it was enough.

They froze. They stared at each other for an agonizing second.

_ “Your breath comes from inside, where your heat source is” _ , Aang reminded her.  _ Be focused, but calm, and feel the warmth inside you.” _

Katara closed her eyes and focused. The heat inside of her swelled as she forced air out through her nostrils, bending the ice around her and willing it to melt. Barely able to contain her relief, she glided to Azula’s back and pulled a nearby chain around her arms, securing her to the grate. She released the water and breathed heavy sighs of exhaustion and contentment. She was in control.

\----

Ozai fled. From the moment Aang had entered the Avatar State his cause had been hopeless.

Aang raced after him, reveling in the power that he felt. He was in control. With the slightest movement, any element would spring into action and perform movements that he’d never seen, nor even imagined. Throwing the full strength of his will into the act, he forced the elements to pursue the Firelord. Huge tongues of flame lashed out at the hapless dictator, pebbles fired themselves at blinding speed, and tunnels of air hurled Ozai into stony columns. His words echoed in Aang’s head, brutally insulting the culture he had loved and lost.  _ “You’re weak! Just like your people!” _ Aang lashed out in rage, and Ozai could barely escape the monstrous bursts of fire that followed.  _ “They did not deserve to exist in this world, in my world!” _ Huge pillars hurled themselves at the Firelord with a twitch of Aang’s fingers.

But then Aang thought, for just a moment, about the decision that had unlocked the Avatar State. He heard his own words this time:  _ “I won’t let go of Katara, I won’t let go of the world, and I won’t let go of Ozai!” Of Ozai. _ Killing the Firelord wasn’t the way to do this. Aang would need to capture him instead.

Katara’s voice was the next echo in the Avatar’s mind.  _ “To bend a water claw, you have to rotate your arm and imagine the feeling of being grabbed.” _ He looked up at Ozai, streaking across the sky above him. The move came to him so easily; he imagined every time that Katara had wrapped up his arm or leg in a water claw. As a massive tendril of liquid grabbed the Firelord, Aang had to suppress a smile.

He took Ozai’s bending. As the Lion Turtle had instructed, he bent the energy within his foe, leaving him powerless. He bent earthen prisons to contain the Fire Nation soldiers who were trying to flee from downed airships. He bent the entire ocean to extinguish the blazes that Ozai and his forces had left behind. He was in control.

As soon as he stepped onto the commandeered airship, he was not in control. He felt constricted by the wrenched metal as he looked around frantically for the person he wanted most to see.

“Where’s Katara?”

“Ah, relax, Aang”, Sokka grunted through the pain of his broken leg. “She wasn’t with us, she’s not dead, she just went with Zuko to fight Azula.”

“WHAT! Is that supposed to be reassuring?”

Toph grinned at his concern, but replied with genuine care in her voice.

“I bet Sweetness will be fine. Didn’t she kick Azula’s butt in Ba Sing Se? You told me that story yourself Aang, she’s way better than that nasty jerk.”

As the metalbender turned away to help a groaning Sokka set his leg with a crude iron splint, Suki called out to Aang from the helm.

“Don’t worry, we’re going straight there! You’ll be able to see her soon! And Zuko too”, she added with a touch of humor in her voice.

Aang said nothing, but knelt down to help Sokka prop himself up against the wall of the airship. Hopefully it could take his mind off the growing dread.

\----

Katara rushed over to Zuko’s side. She didn’t hear him breathing at all, but didn’t waste time checking. She bent water around her hands swiftly, moving them around over Zuko’s raw and scarred chest. Feeling the broken veins and burned skin, she knitted it back together in slow, regular movements. It only took a few seconds for the Fire Prince to regain consciousness, and a few more for him to thank her for saving him. Katara smiled in tearful relief.

“I think I’m the one who should be thanking you.”

They stood together, looking down at Azula as she shrieked in fury at her captivity. She writhed and stormed, but Katara had secured the chains well. Zuko stood steadily, restored by Katara’s healing abilities. The Fire Sages crept back into the courtyard, bowing reverently at the victory of their new Firelord. Katara couldn’t help but wear a small smile. She was in control. They both were.

She shivered as the last rivulets of water from her icy shell ran down her bare arms, and suddenly she was not in control anymore. Her adrenaline fading, her mind jumped to Aang. She didn’t even know whether he had fought Ozai at all. Iroh had said that he would, but he couldn’t know that. She didn’t know what she preferred: that Aang fought the Firelord, or that he missed the Comet entirely. Zuko could tell that she’d become preoccupied, and he had a good guess why.

“Aang’s fine. He’s the only bender I’ve ever seen who’s as good as my father. He might even be better.”

Katara turned to look at him, concerned.

“Is that supposed to make me feel better? Knowing that nobody but Aang could possibly beat him?”

There was no anger in her voice, only worry. Zuko nodded.

“Yeah, it is. The kid’s already a better firebender than I am when he really tries, and I’ve beaten my father when he shot lightning at me.”

Katara gazed off at the distant ocean on the horizon, barely reassured. It was hard to keep down her growing dread.

\----

The airship soared on through the deepening evening gloom above the dark Fire Nation waters. Small islands dotted the sea below them. Aang stood motionless at the front window, where he had stood since shortly after their departure. His eyes jumped from island to island to island, but his mind stayed fixed on a single subject. He tried to think about anything besides what might have happened at the Caldera City, but could not. Sokka had fallen asleep, Toph was playing quietly with several small chunks of smooth metal, and Suki was intensely focused on piloting the airship, as she’d been for hours. In fact, she hadn’t spoken or done anything else since telling Aang about how they had taken down the airships together. A loud clanking noise sounded from a nearby engine room, where Ozai was restrained behind metal bars. The motor of the airship let out a violent chug before returning to its usual hum. Silence settled over the ship again as it soared on into the night.

A point of light on the horizon seized Aang’s attention. It was rapidly joined by more points. The Fire Nation capital was in view! Aang straightened up and looked around desperately.

“Does anyone mind if I go?” he asked, pointing hopefully towards the distant lights.

Toph blew her hair out of her face.

“Knock yourself out, dancypants”, she retorted, but stood up with a smile that said she, too, was happy to be near their destination.

“As long as you don’t break this airship on your way out, it’s fine with me”, said Suki.

She glanced at him understandingly. Sokka snored loudly in the background, but Aang had already left the cockpit behind. In the main hallway of the airship, he pried a huge flat sheet of metal from the ceiling. Suddenly, it jumped out of his hands and flew backwards. He turned to protest, but Toph was already bending the slab.

“Want some help with that? If you use it like that you’re gonna sink, not fly”, she warned him cheerfully.

She tossed the sheet back to Aang. It was now shaped like a large cape, with two small handles near the front.

“Thanks Toph, you’re the beeeeeeeeeest!”

Aang’s shout was cut off as he leaped out the nearest opening and flew away hurriedly. Shooting jets of fire from his bare and bruised feet and bending air beneath the sheet metal, the young airbender rocketed forward, leaving the airship far behind.  _ Katara is there with those lights,  _ he thought.  _ She’s there and any minute I’ll know whether or not she’s okay. _

After fifteen minutes of flying, he realized that the distance was far greater than he’d thought. The airship was chugging along behind him, a distant memory, and the lights before him were an eternity away. The metal plate had begun to wear heavily on his shoulders, and the lower edge of it, heated by his fire jets, scalded his legs whenever it brushed them. He winced in pain as the searing edge nudged his calves once again. It was so hard to focus. He dropped the metal glider into the crashing ocean below, lengthening his body into a dive. He broke the surface of the water cleanly before popping back up. Bending the water around him as well as the air behind him, Aang surged forward on top of the sea, running with all his speed.

He couldn’t see the warship anymore, but the lights were distinctly closer. His legs burning from the distance he had run, Aang went into the Avatar State. The bright glow of his tattoos lit up the black waters around him as he shot forward with renewed vigor.

Half an hour later, Aang was running out of energy as he passed the Gates of Azulon. Slowing down from exhaustion, he bent the water into a huge piston, hurling himself skyward just before reaching land. In a desperate final attempt, he entered his Avatar State air sphere once again, shooting upwards toward Caldera City and the royal palace.

\----

A sudden draft of wind ripped through the room from the open window, extinguishing the weak flames atop the several candle stubs that kept it lit. Katara ran to close the window, leaving the top generals, Fire Sages, and Zuko sitting in the dark. But as she reached for the glass paned doors, she saw a flicker of light in the sky, rapidly descending.  _ Could that be Aang? How... _ Bending water from the pouch at her side, she leapt from the window and bent a quick slide down to the courtyard. She looked up, and there he was. Flailing, out of control, flames shooting from his limbs as he tried to slow his descent. He looked back down at her, and saw her face. Wrenching his limbs into an earthbending stance, Aang slammed into the rocky courtyard, which caved beneath him and caught him in an earthen crater.

He stood for a minute, in the center of the rubble, looking. Katara looked back at him.

He caved first, dashing forward and stumbling over the wrecked cobblestones he had ruined just a moment ago, and Katara met him halfway. They stood there, wrapped in each other’s arms, and they were in control. They were both alive, both breathing, both  _ real _ . They both cried, real tears that the other could not see. The earth trembled slightly beneath them, the moisture in the air around them gathered into crystalline drops, and Katara’s hair whipped around in the gusts of wind that enveloped them. They had stood there since beginningless time, and they’d probably have stood there longer if Zuko hadn’t jumped from the open window and slid down Katara’s chute into the ruins of the courtyard.

“Zuko and Appa are okay too”, Katara whispered as Aang took a step back.

“The others are alright, they’re in an airship on the way here”, Aang replied.

“Are you planning to fix that? I’m going to need it soon”, said Zuko as he approached, gesturing to the crater.

“I’ll do it tomorrow”, said Aang brightly. “Right now I don’t think I could bend enough to blow a window open.”

Katara grinned at him, the same silly grin that she’d suppressed so many times as they trained, conversed, ate, and fought alongside one another. Aang grinned right back, in the same giddy way that he had every day since breaking free from the iceberg.

Avatar Aang would never let go again. It was the easiest decision he’d ever made.

**Author's Note:**

> Please let me know what you think! I hope this was as much fun for you to read as it was for me to write!
> 
> Also, please tell me if the nonlinearity of this story made it confusing or if there are bits I could clarify. I'm always looking to improve!


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